Losing Grip
by Kaiserin Riru
Summary: Ken is kidnapped! Who is this mysterious teen who calls himself Guardian? R&R, please!


**Losing Grip**

**Prologue**

Warnings: Angst, OCs (uuhhh… hehe?), OOCness (I'm more of a Sailormoon/ DBZ fan, thanks), messed up theories and plotline

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I'd be rich. You would not be reading this. You would be watching it on TV. But I don't, you are, and you can't. Therefore, I don't own Digimon. ( I do, however, own Nakamura Sayo (not in this chapter), Nemesis, and Masou)

~*~*~*~

            Ichijouji Ken looked into the mirror, eyes emotionless as he strained his memory. It was just out of his reach, and as tempting as chocolate to a person who hasn't eaten for days. He almost had it in his grasp… just stretch a little bit further…

            Thunder rolled outside, pushing the memory away. Damn! Why couldn't he remember? It was like there was a wall, barring everything but his life after becoming the Kaiser, which he didn't wish to remember at all. He knew he was missing something, and it was important.

            His computer beeped, jarring him from his thoughts. It was an instant message from Miyako. Apparently, the Chosen were conversing in a chat room and wanted him to join them. He accepted the invite and entered the private room.

\\

KindKaiser: konbanwa, minna-sama.

Lightgurl11: konbanwa, Ichijouji-san!

prodigeous1: konbanwa, Ken-san!

goggleboi2: KEN-KUN!

Aguman: sup, ken?

KindKaiser: not much. what r we talking about?

purple_haired_gurl: picnic in Dworld 2morrow. Coming?

//

            Ken stared at the screen for a moment. Dare he tell them of his dream? When even he didn't fully comprehend it?

\\

goggleboi: Ken. u there?

KindKaiser: count me out, minna. I G2G.

//

            He couldn't tell them, he decided. He needed some time to figure his dream out first. He was certain that it was a memory. He just couldn't place it… it was as if it had belonged to someone else. But he was certain… absolutely _certain_ that it was his. He thought back to the dream, going over it in his head.

            He was young, perhaps eight. The world around him was dark, but he could still see a boy— around twelve— standing beside him. The other boy's eyes were widened with horror as something flashed toward him. Calling a name that he could not recall, evidently the other boy's, Ken jumped in between the boy and the… whatever it was. He felt an intense pain in his neck before his vision blurred, denying him the image of the one he had rescued. And it was there, he realized that the dream had ended.

            The pain in his neck… Ken touched the place subconsciously. Could it be that the dream had been a memory of his receiving the Dark Seed? He shuddered, remembering the monster he had turned into.

            He had a feeling the place was the Digital World. He couldn't tell by the surroundings, but he felt it in his heart; the Digital World had been more of a home than the place his was in at the moment.

            Maybe… maybe the Digital World would give him some answers. He pulled up the Digiport window on the screen, taking out his black D-3.

            "Minomon?" he called, catching the bug digimon's attention.

            "Ryoukai, Ken-chan," Minomon replied, coming to stand by his partner.

~*~

            To be blunt, the Digital World was a mess. Ken and Wormmon walked around, staring at the damaged land in disbelief. Hadn't this place been beautiful two days ago, when they had last visited? It sure wasn't now. _There goes the picnic idea,_ Ken thought to himself, biting his lip and searching for any form of life, be it animal, vegetable, or digimon.

            He saw something that made his blood run cold, that made a thrill of terror run down his back. He took a step back, blinking hard to make the vision before him disappear. However, the image would not go away.

            Instead, a smirk formed upon the face of the apparition, its dark eyes glinting. Suddenly, Wormmon was nowhere to be seen, Ken's last line of defense gone without a trace.

            "What's the matter, Ken? Scared?" the figure asked, as Ken's eyes filled with horror. "I would be too, you know. Alone, defenseless… and no one knows where you are."

            Ken backed away, only to hit a wall that hadn't been there before. Ken grit his teeth and stared at the apparition. He was certain it could not be real. There was just know way… was there? The figure laughed. "Little Ichijouji, trapped like a rat. You've got no where to run, boy."

            "What do you want?" Ken hissed. Again, the figure laughed, infuriatingly.

            "No, no, Ken, the question is what do _you_ want?"

            "What are you talking about?"

            "You know exactly what I am talking about, boy. We could rule the world together, you know. Both Digital and the real world. All you have to do is join me."

            "Go to hell!" Ken returned. "I'd never join the likes of you!"

            "But you _are_ me, Ken," the figure said.

            "No, Kaiser.  I'm not you. I gave up being evil," Ken said calmly. The Kaiser's expression turned sour.

            "Pity."

            Ken's vision was blurred, much like when he had blocked the boy from the Dark Seed. The last thing he saw clearly was the cruel gaze of the Kaiser, before he knew no more.

~*~

            He watched the rain fall heavily on the lake, breathing a depressed sigh. he had lived alone in this place for five years now, with only the occasional digimon to keep him company. He sipped some coffee from the mug in his hands, savoring the bitter taste. Being a Guardian was lonely work, but as it is often said, someone had to do it. It was dull work, too, now that he thought of it. There hadn't been a problem any world in years, save for the Kaiser incident of the Digital World (known as Dimension 2A to other Guardians). And even then, the Chosen had taken care of that.

            The jarimon beside him looked at him questioningly.

            "I'm okay, Masou. Really," he added, at the look of the little digimon's face.

            "I highly doubt that, Guardian," purred the mikemon curled up in the armchair across the room. There was suddenly a beeping sound from outside the study, accompanied with a flashing red light.

            "Finally, some action!" the Guardian exclaimed. He turned to the mikemon. "Nemesis, be ready to digivolve. This could actually be dangerous!"

            "You sound delighted," Nemesis drawled, stretching luxuriously. The Guardian grinned and left the room without comment. The cat digimon scowled and jumped to the floor. Just what she needed… an adventure! She was supposed to take a nice catnap and catch up on her beauty sleep today!

            Suddenly, the Guardian's voice reached her ears.

            "N-nemesis, I think you should get Masou to digivolve, too. Perfect stage, please." Now Nemesis was scared. The Guardian only called for Masou to digivolve if the situation was extremely bad.

            "I'm on it, Guardian," she called back. "What dimension?"

            "1A. Ken is in trouble."

~*~

            The only sound in Yagami Hikari's room was the typing coming from Inoue Miyako's laptop. The group in the room was ashen, having just been called by Ichijouji's mother, requesting the location of her son. Because neither they nor anyone else knew where he was, it was assumed that Ken was missing in action. They had tried to contact Gennai, but all connections to the Digital World were down; even the D-3s couldn't elicit a response from the digiports.

            "Minna-chan, look at this," Miyako said, pointing to the instant message that had just popped up on the screen. The group of preteens gathered around the laptop.

_Meet me at Tokyo Tower. I know where Ichijouji is._

            "I think we should go," Motomiya Daisuke said at once, being the reckless one in the group. Also, Ken had been his best friend and Jogress partner, and any lead they found would be pursued, if it were up to him.

            "Don't be stupid, Daisuke. Haven't you heard of all of those stories about children being abducted by people they met over the Internet?" Takaishi Takeru countered.

            "But if we're all together, nothing can happen, right?" Daisuke said. The others took a moment to consider this.

            "I vote we proceed, _carefully_, to Tokyo Tower," Hikari said. "All for?"

            "Aye," everyone responded, except for the small boy in the corner. Hida Iori bit his lip, torn between his cautious upbringing and the desire to help his enemy-turned-ally.

            "You don't have to come with us, Iori," Miyako said softly, sensing the boy's discomfort.

            "I'll go," Iori said finally, hugging his upamon to his chest.

~*~

            The teen who stood at the base of the tower was somewhat tall, with spiked brown hair and blue eyes, and looked like the younger form of Gennai. He had two digimon, a bastemon and megalogrowmon, at his side; after the last digimon incident, the entire world population was becoming used to the idea of digimon, so this was not questioned.

            "You know where Ken is?" Daisuke asked immediately upon arrival. The teenager nodded, a troubled look on his face.

            "He's in the Digital World, but as you know, the connections are down. I can't tell you too much, but I will say this: it has to do with the Kaiser."

            "How do you know about the Kaiser?" Takeru asked; very few people had been informed of the incident, and as far as he knew, this person hadn't been one of them. The teen seemed to be struggling with an inner demon, biting his lip. Finally, he sighed.

            "I'm a Guardian. _The_ Guardian, if you will," he began, and before the Chosen could ask any questions, he continued. "A Guardian protects a series of worlds. I'm the Guardian for all dimensions related to digimon. This world, for instance, is 1A. Your Digital World is 1B. The Guardian is informed of all goings-on in these worlds, and tries to prevent inner conflict. Answer your question, Takaishi-san?" Takeru nodded numbly, trying to process this information.

            "What are we supposed to call you, then, and how are we supposed to find Ken?" Miyako asked, blunt as usual.

            "Call me Guardian. It's a generic term, but it works. I've almost forgotten my real name, anyway, what with all of the information I've had to store in my head.

            "As to finding Ken, I'm going to upgrade your D-3s. It's bordering defiance of my orders, but it can't be helped. Your D-3s should now be able to access the Digital World, and some other dimension, if my calculations are correct. But you're not to go near those.

            "Anyway, Nemesis, Masou, to HQ. Ja, Chosen."

~*~*~*~

A/N: Uhm… yeah… I won't be telling you who Guardian is until later in the story… but I'm a lot of you have already figured it out. (If there are a lot of you reading this, that is.) ^_^* For those of you who don't know them, here are the stats for Guardian's digimon companions (they are NOT his partners):

Mikemon (mee-keh-mahn [not sure on stressed syllables])

Name: Nemesis (goddess of divine justice and retribution [from the source I found… not really sure ^^*])

For more info, go to http://dma.digiexperience.net/pages/dexmike.shtml. 

Jarimon (jhar-ee-mahn)

Name: Masou (fire deity [American. I think. It's at www.popularbabynames.com.])

For more info, go to http://dma.digiexperience.net/pages/dexjari.shtml. 

NEhoo! Please R&R, and tell me how I can improve! Flames are accepted, but be warned; they mysteriously wind up posted on certain communities/groups/websites, with mocking comments between the lines. ^_~ Also, I accept plot/couple suggestions, questions, and boxes of truffles. 


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